The long dry summer of 2022 is now a distant memory and Id say most would say weve probably had enough rain for the time being.
Although we are in one of the driest parts of the country with little more than 20 inches of rain annually, it doesnt tend to be equally spaced. On our flat heavy land we can very quickly go from very dry to waterlogged.
As I write this in early April weve still got no animals out at all, and the grass is certainly springing into action.
As everyone knows it is always a huge relief to have had a clear TB test, and we were fortunate enough to be clear on our four yearly test at the start of the month.
Relief
A huge relief for us, although I have a sneaking suspicion our extremely enthusiastic vet student, who had been helping for a few weeks, seemed somewhat disappointed not to see a reactor.
She has actually been one of the best vet students we have had for a number of years but she is also very keen to experience all the misfortunes which may and do befall us.
We usually have one or two vet students a year and it must now be 20 years since we had a male vet student.
As well as our youngstock shed extension, which is finally almost complete, six months later than planned, the other area weve been trying to focus on over the past few months has been the installation of a slurry separator to improve our slurry management system.
To say we have had teething issues with the new separator pump would be an understatement, but now the suppliers have changed the pump, to the type we actually ordered in the first place, we seem to be making some progress.
Neil, my cousin, reciprocated their final invoice with an equivalent invoice for his time over the past four months unblocking a pump that wasnt up to the job, repeatedly emptying the reception pit and trouble shooting. This is to be continued..
As Arla members we have seen the milk price drop by over 12ppl over the past four months and the continued uncertainty is making budgeting this year difficult.
At least there is some accompanying downward movement in fertiliser and feed prices.
Focus
The fall in milk price will certainly focus the mind on doing as much as possible to get the maximum from the Sustainability Incentive payments, which Arla start paying over the coming months. Although as always, the additional work is unwanted.
March brought a most welcome trip to Carlisle for the UK Dairy Expo. It was great to see so many friends old and new, and I think the standard of cattle was the best yet. We were delighted to host a very dear friend in
Robert Medwell who was visiting from Canada.
It is always a pleasure to have people visit and later in the month we are looking forward to welcoming the Lancashire Holstein Club who are visiting as part of their spring tour.
Although we try our best to keep a relatively tidy farm, a trip such as this means operation clean-up is now well underway.
